Ammunition to be on negative import list

One of the major areas of the negative list of imports being formulated would be several types of ammunition, Master General of Ordnance (MGO) Lt. Gen. S.K. Upadhyay said on Friday.

“None of these ammunition are actually niche technologies. They are of 1970s and 1980s vintage, but they are stable. There will be more than enough opportunities for Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSME) to manufacture ammunition and also in the back end,” Lt. Gen. Upadhyay said at a webinar organised by the Society of Defence Manufacturers (SIDM).’

There was one initiative that started couple of years ago to get some types of ammunition on long-term contract, the MGO said referring to the tender issued in early 2018 to the private sector for the manufacture of eight types of ammunition. Seven companies responded to the tender but the process did not makes any progress. So far, the manufacture of ammunition is done only by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

Lt. Gen. Upadhyay said all the hurdles in that case have been removed. “You will see fast movement. We are looking at adding additional ones [ammunition].”